Submission Number: UBR-DEIS-00557 

Received: 2/1/2021 8:36:00 AM
Commenter: Will  Biedermann
Organization: 
State: Colorado

Agency: STB
Initiative: Uinta Basin Railway EIS
Attachments:
UBR-DEIS-00557-58996.pdf Size = 65 KB
Download Adobe Reader
Submission Text
See attachment

ATTACHMENT

January 10, 2021

Joshua Wayland, PhD
Surface Transportation Board
c/o ICF
9300 Lee Highway
Fairfax, VA 22031
Attention: Environmental filing, Docket No. FD 36284

As a resident of the Arkansas River Valley, I am concerned about the track usage of the rail system along the Arkansas River. I am against the transport, along the Arkansas River, of any chemical or substance that could present a threat to the natural environment and people of the area. Physical threats to the environment, noise pollution, property devaluation, and impedance to recreational opportunities are all potential negative outcomes of track use involving the transport of hazardous materials through the valley.
The Arkansas River environment is an exceptionally beautiful part of Colorado. Any threat to that beauty threatens tourism and the economics associated with tourism. In short, trains carrying hazardous materials through the Arkansas River Valley and beyond, have very far reaching effects should/and when an environmental accident could/will occur.

The natural beauty of the Arkansas River provides life for so many in, around, and downstream. The risks to this unique gem of an ecosystem are just too many with the proposed freight component of the proposed control exemption for rail use along the Arkansas.

Sincerely, Will Biedermann
P.O. Box 250
Coaldale, CO 81222
719-371-5344